APART & TOGETHER

A man fished in the sea, while a woman built a fire

to cook the fish the man would catch from the barnacled pier.

Together they picked blackberries, stashed their bucket in sea oats

by the edge of the road, chased a hound dog down the beach.

That afternoon, they rested.

The man plucked an old guitar, hummed, played harmonica,

while the woman danced in the sand, gathered shells.  After dark,

she retrieved the berries for tomorrow's lunch, carried them up

under the pier, where it's cool.  They argued about sex before

going to sleep, having none. 

Helen Losse's first book, Better With Friends, was published by Rank Stranger Press (Mt. Olive, NC) in 2009.  She is the author of two chapbooks, Gathering the Broken Pieces and Paper Snowflakes.  Her recent poetry publications and acceptances include The Wild Goose Poetry Review, Main Street Rag, Iodine Poetry Review, Blue Fifth Review, Heavy Bear, Referential Magazine, Hobble Creek Review and Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont.  She is the Poetry Editor for The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.